A02 – Cross-talk between dying and bystander cells in vitro and in vivo: an optogenetics approach

Ana J. Garcia-Saez
Institute for genetics, CECAD, University of Cologne
Contact: garcia-office(at)uni-koeln.de
For more information see: Garcia-Saez lab

Manolis Pasparakis
Institute for genetics, CECAD, University of Cologne
Contact: pasparakis(at)uni-koeln.de
For more information see: Pasparakis lab
Abstract
Currently available tools do not allow studying the cross-talk between dying and bystander cells in a spatially and temporally resolved manner. The project aims to develop optogenetically regulated systems allowing the precisely controlled induction of different forms of cell death at a single cell level and use them to study the cross-talk between dying and bystander cells in vitro and in vivo. By employing selective light-controlled activation of different death effectors, this project will study how the different types of cell death shape tissue responses and the underlying mechanisms.

Recent Publications
Cosentino, K., Hertlein, V., Jenner, A., Dellmann, T., Gojkovic, M., Peña-Blanco, A., Dadsena, S., Wajngarten, N., Danial, J.S.H., Thevathasan, J.V., Mund, M., Ries, J., Garcia-Saez, A.J. (2022) The interplay between BAX and BAK tunes apoptotic pore growth to control mitochondrial-DNA-mediated inflammation. Molecular Cell 82, 1-17, February 17, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2022.01.008
Flores-Romero, H., Hohorst, L., John, M., Albert, M.-C., King, L.E., Beckmann, L., Szabo, T., Hertlein, V., Luo, X., Villunger, A., Frenzel, L.P., Kashkar, H., & Garcia-Saez, A.J. (2021) BCL-2-family protein tBID can act as a BAX-like effector of apoptosis. The EMBO Journal (2021) e108690 DOI10.15252/embj.2021108690
Pedrera, L., Espiritu, R., A., Ros, U., Weber, J., Schmitt, A., Stroh, J., Hailfinger, S., von Karstedt, S., García-Sáez, A., J. (2020) Ferroptotic pores induce Ca 2+ fluxes and ESCRT-III activation to modulate cell death kinetics. Cell Death Differ Dec 17. doi: 10.1038/s41418-020-00691-x
Flores‐Romero, H., Ros, U., Garcia-Saez, A.J. (2020) Pore formation in regulated cell death. EMBO J (2020)e105753 https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.2020105753